Letter to ST Forum Page (Now Published) - Questions upon the
loss of a big toe
Dear All
I had on noon of 6th November 2006, written a stinging letter to
the Straits Times Forum Page in an attempt to provoke some critical
thinking on the part of the relevant authorities on the escalator
incident which resulted in the loss of a toddlers right big
toe.
The injury was a serious one as it physically impaired the toddler
for the whole of her life! Henceforth and such incidents must be
prevented!
The Straits Times Forum Page again failed to publish my stinging
letter. Coincidentally, the reporter who reported on the incident
produced a further report which seemed to point blame on the rubber
footwear of the toddler.
The report appearing on todays Straits Times differs from the
yesterdays in 4 areas:
1. Expert points his finger to footwear (significant increase in
side entrapments);
2. toe was found 2 ½ hours later => too late for surgical
reattachment as opposed to too badly damaged to be reattached as
reported yesterday.
3. Safety strips and PVC bristles as a possible solution;
4. Sembawang Town Council saying that it will install more safety
switches.
But was the lack of safety switches the cause of the loss of the
toe? 
If one pays close attention, the rubber shoe of the toddler seems
very much different from the rubber clog which the expert Mr. C.
C. Toh had used to demonstrate the culpability of such
footwear.
My sources tell me that the Mainstream Chinese Press LianHe Zaobao
had in todays issue carried another report of a similar accident
in which the SCDF performed with dramatic improvement in response
time of immediate response and freeing the 2yr old in 10 mins for
a Tampines Mall incident.
The combined effect of these reports essentially direct the finger
pointing away from the Town Council. Escalator supplier, escalator
manufacturer and the SCDF.
As I have said previously ad nauseam, I am a proponent of free
speech and critical thinking and I will not be silenced by elements
of the mainstream press or whoever and all the more so if I have
very pertinent questions have yet be answered.
The essence of my concern is this: How can we be sure that our
SCDF, Town Councils will be able to handle the next escalator or
elevator (lift) accident?
To cut the long story short, I hereby now append my letter dated
6th November 2006 to ST Forum Page (Unpublished) to fire up some
critical thinking.
Letter to ST Forum Page Questions upon the loss of a big
toe.
I refer to the report on the front page of the Straits Times of 6th
November 2006 on the Mall Escalator Accident reported by Ms Tanya
Fong.
It was revealed that the paramedics arrived at the scene 25 mins
after the incident. I am unaware of when the emergency call was
actually made as it is not apparent from the report. The paramedics
contacted the Sembawang Town Council 10 mins after and the
technician arrived only after a further 45 mins.
It must be noted that the technicians arrival did not seem to
speed things up more as the toddlers clog and severed toe were
only found 1 hour and 15 mins after the technicians arrival.
In so far as the matter is deemed as an accident, and that such an
accident has happened twice, I now request the relevant authorities
to explain what has been done since August when the first of such
incidents happened. In short, what has been done since then to make
escalators safer for young children in order to ensure as safe as
possible a passage and commute by our citizens in our own
country.
In the light of the latest incident, I further request the relevant
authorities to disclose what further steps they intend to take in
order to avoid the occurrence of and to mitigate the damaging
effects of such accidents if they ever occur again.
The authorities must understand that the incident resulted in the
loss of the big toe of a young toddler, little appendage which from
my understanding is crucial to a persons ability to balance her
body in day to day life. This incident caused permanent disability
to a young girl, and a loss which will follow her throughout her
life.
The establishment prides itself for having run a tight ship and
possessing the requisite foresight to deal with potential problems.
This incident provides an excellent opportunity for the relevant
authorities to tighten up their loose ends, if any.
In this incident, there exists a question of potential liability on
the part of the relevant authority for the injury and disability
caused by the escalator. However, this is a separate issue. In any
event, to strive for improvement, steps must be taken
forward.
The first incident caused no injury. The second and latest incident
caused the loss of a toddlers big toe. I shiver to imagine the
outcome of the next incident. I hereby stress to the relevant
authorities that the lesson to be drawn from these incidents would
be to take these incidents as warnings of a potentially more
damaging mishap in the future.
In this case, I presume that the SCDF officers present at the scene
found the toddlers toe once the steel stair panels were removed. I
do not question the competence of the SCDF officers whom I presume
are properly trained.
However, despite being properly trained by SCDFs standards, the
officers were obviously ill placed to deal with the situation and
they were rendered hopelessly ineffective. We will recall that in
this incident, they had to depend entirely on another person, the
escalator technician, who not a member of their emergency service
to complete his task before they could start theirs.
The time taken to contact the technician, for him to respond, for
him to arrive at the site and perform his task of unlocking the
steel stair panels was a staggering 130 mins or 2 hours and 10
mins. This was more than enough for a soccer match to run its full
course, go into extra time and sudden death.
Reading Tanya Fongs report of the incident left me with a sick
feeling in the stomach, a surreal pain in my right toe and several
questions in mind.
The toe was severed for almost 3 hours before medical staff
evaluated it. Would it have been possible to save Shiyrs toe if it
was found earlier, packed in ice and rushed to the hospital? Would
a faster response time have helped?
If the escalator so damaged the toe beyond rescue that it would not
have mattered if the toe were found earlier. Then my question would
be: if escalators have been proven to be so damaging a contraption.
What can and will be done to make them safer?
Furthermore, as Singapore is densely populated and jam-packed with
multi-storied buildings where escalators and lifts abound
islandwide, would it not be an apt time now to set up a properly
trained quick response medical and rescue team competent enough to
tear apart an escalator / lift system to deal with such accidents
involving our escalators and (I shiver to venture) our lifts?
Members of the public, both foreigners and citizens alike would be
keen to know of the plans and measures intended to be taken. I
await eagerly the substantive response from the relevant
authorities.
Chia Ti Lik
Dear All, as of this morning 8th November 2006, the ST
Forum Page has published the letter in its edited version. See also
my clarification posting below.
